Birthright

Chapter One

In the middle of the Nevada desert stood an unmarked building with no windows and no sign that it was inhabited. The select few aware of its existence called it Haven and smiled mockingly at the irony of its name.

Locked in a tiny room, a motionless fifteen-year-old sat Indian style on a narrow cot with her back against the wall. The door swung open to let in a shaft of bright light. A woman with long blonde hair and violet eyes hesitated in the doorway and took in the destruction of the room in silence.

A broken lamp, bits of scorched fabric and a set of drawers lay in splinters over the concrete floor but what was most alarming were the broken bits of metal links littered over the ground like jacks, broken handcuffs.

The woman stepped cautiously into the room and shadows moved over the ground as four guards crowded into the doorway. The woman’s high heels clicked on the floor as she stopped a safe distance from the bed and examined the teenager warily. The girl’s waist length black hair was matted with sweat, bruises stood out starkly on pale skin and her hands were bloody as if she tried to claw her way through the cement walls. The teen absently drew designs on the mangled pair of handcuffs on her lap.

“Jordan?” Catherine’s voice cut through the teen’s reverie. 

Jordan slowly lifted her head and stared at Catherine with eyes such a dark blue they appeared black in the dim light. “Catherine?”

Catherine eased a step closer. “It’s me.”

“What’s happening to me?” Jordan’s voice was weak and frail.

Catherine glanced at the guards shifting in the doorway. “You don’t remember?”

Jordan stared at her bloody hands. “It’s all a blur. I feel strange.”

“We took you off your pills, honey, but everything’s going to be alright,” Catherine soothed.

Jordan’s eyes were dilated and unnaturally fevered. “Why would you take me off the pill? What’s happening to me?”

Catherine smoothed sweaty palms over her slacks and took a step back. “What you’re going through is completely normal.” She didn’t sound convinced. “There’s a man here that can help you.”

“He can help me? My body aches.” She rubbed a shaking fist over her chest.

“He’s a very important man. We don’t want to keep him waiting.”

“He’ll give me back my pills?”

“No. He’s going to figure out what’s wrong with you.”

“But I’ve always been on the pill.” Jordan’s voice trailed off as she noticed gouge marks in the cement that hadn’t been there yesterday. Her fingertips suddenly throbbed.

“He’ll know what you need. Let’s go.”

Jordan didn’t move. One of the guards eased away from the others.

“We don’t want to hurt you,” he said.

Jordan’s eyes flicked over the guard with the baton clipped to his belt. She had a vague recollection of this guard pinning her to the bed and handcuffing her yesterday. Her eyes narrowed on his bruised face.

“But you will,” Jordan said coolly and deliberately dropped the damaged handcuffs on the floor.

The guard’s eyes flicked to the cuffs and his hand hovered over the baton. “Yes.”

“If you cooperate, they won’t need to restrain you again,” Catherine put in.

Jordan fixed her gaze on Catherine as she slowly, painfully eased to the edge of the bed and rose. “You promised.”